


Poor, Unfortunate Soul

by UpAllNight



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Adorable, Alternate Universe - College/University, Cute, Dark Magic, Desert Island, Fluff, Fluffy, Harry is innocent, Larry Stylinson Is Real, Louis is protective, Love, M/M, Mermaid!Harry, Minor Liam Payne/Louis Tomlinson, References to Shakespeare, Romance, Stranded on an Island, Temporary Amnesia, University, gay mermaids, larry stylinson - Freeform, romantic, the little mermaid sort of inspired this, the other guys will show up eventually
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-05
Updated: 2015-07-05
Packaged: 2018-04-02 23:16:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 20,591
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4077505
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UpAllNight/pseuds/UpAllNight
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Louis, drunk and confused, falls off the side of the cruise ship. Harry, who had been following some dolphins who had been following the cruise ship, rescues him and takes him to a small island until help arrives (as it always does, because Louis is not the first drunk to fall off a boat). But until then, it's just Harry and Louis.<br/>Oh, and Harry is a very handsome, shy merman. Who might have a thing for humans. And Louis, apparently, has a thing for mermen.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter One

Louis was tipsy. Okay maybe he was a little more than tipsy. Perhaps, just perhaps, Louis was extremely drunk. And it was his brilliant drunk idea to meander away from the large party the cruise director was throwing and towards the back end of the expansive ship where maybe it wouldn’t be _so bloody loud and crowded_ and he could relax and think about deep things like toaster strudel and why Tumblr mobile sucked so much. Because those are the deep thoughts that drunk Louis has. And he debated what he wanted to think about as he passed several teenage couples snogging in dark corners while their parents got absolutely hammered on the main deck.

Louis suddenly remembered that there were two family reunions aboard the cruise and maybe they were cousins! Kissing cousins was such a funny term. Queen Victoria, married _her_ cousin and they must have snogged. They had nine children, so they must have at least snogged a little! She was the longest reigning Queen of England and the British Isles until September 2015, when Queen Elizabeth II would take that title. Weird. Louis giggled to himself. 

He and his very drunk thoughts about England’s various cousin-marrying, longest-ruling queens ended as he reached the back of the large ship and made for the railing. He leaned heavily against the cool metal and stared up into the night sky, pinpricked with white and blue stars. Louis loved the stars. He enjoyed looking up at them and seeing them twinkle slightly as if they knew some secret he wasn’t privy to. He liked looking at them reflected on still lakes and drawn in pictures, like Van Gogh. He liked Van Gogh.

This time his revelry about Van Gogh was broken by loud splashes coming from almost directly beneath him. He looked down over the railing to see several dolphins trailing, jumping out of the water as they followed the ship. He was happy, watching the dolphins jump and squeak as they leapt over the tops of the tiny waves created in the wake of the slow-moving boat. He laughed, glancing between them and the stars and smiling in his inability to process just how large the universe truly is because his mind was completely wiped away by the taste of fruity alcohol.

That’s when he saw the green. The flicker of green amongst the grey of the dolphins caught Louis’ eye and he glanced down, straining his vision, guessing that he saw something that probably didn't exist. But there it was again! A long green streak in the water, looking finned and vaguely scaled. He couldn’t catch much detail in the waves below, and he couldn’t really focus his eyes all that well. He blamed the fruity rum again and glared, focused hard, at the surface of the water, now willing the dolphins to get out of the way so he could take a peek at the mystery fish. He must have been leaning forward, and as drunk and clumsy as he was, Louis leaned too far and toppled overboard. He didn't even have time to shout. The quiet splash that was his body hitting the water was ignored by the kissing couples and unheard by the party of adults. Louis hit the water and went under, unbeknownst to all aboard.

His least useful first thought was to take a breath, which is a very bad idea when you’re underwater. His lungs filled up, suddenly burning. His throat was tight with saltwater and his eyes stung. His clothes seemed to drag him down little by little as he struggled to reach the surface of the water and break the wake of the cruise ship in order to breathe something that wasn’t more salty water. He struggled...up, UP he willed his body to go, but he seemed to be in some sort of floating stasis no matter how hard he kicked and pulled with his arms. His movements grew feeble as the oxygen in his system faded out, and Louis saw a last flicker of green before everything went completely, horribly, dangerously black.

* * *

Louis woke up on a beach. His head hurt and one of his legs felt numb, but he was alive. He sat up slowly and looked around, his now-clear brain trying to figure out how he had died and woken up on a beach without this being the opening scene of Inception. “Hello?” he called. “Is there anyone around?”

No reply but the quiet sound of waves hitting the shore and birds, somewhere in the forest behind him. All he remembered was the horrible burning sensation in his lungs and that glint of green. The green of that strange fish he thought would be the last thing he ever saw on this earth. Louis suddenly became very aware that his throat was still aching and burning, raw from sucking in a little drop of the ocean. He glanced around, gaining perspective on his surroundings. He was on the shore of a beach that seemed to stretch on forever before one side spiked out into the sea and the other curved around to disappear beyond the treeline. The sand was tawny brown and the water in the small lagoon where he was located was clear and blue. Brighter blue, even, than the fake cove the hotel he was staying in had built just outside to ‘increase ocean availability to patrons’.

It was like a scene from Cast Away! Or even better, The Lagoon. Louis spotted someone down the beach, sitting waist-deep in the water and looking out over the ocean. Maybe they knew where he could find someone to talk to. Maybe they knew how to get home. Louis couldn’t tell whether or not it was a boy or a girl from this distance, because their hair was long and slightly damp and tangled. The way the sun was angled, he couldn’t see much of their figure or tell if they were wearing a top or not.

Either way, Louis hauled himself to his feet, shook some feeling into his left leg, and sprinted down the beach until he was close enough to shout and get the person’s attention. “Hello! Can you help me?” he called, “I almost drowned and somehow ended up on this beach. I’m looking for someone who can help…”

The figure turned sharply around to look at him, but didn’t respond verbally. Louis ran closer, squinting a little to make out the figure better. It was a boy, sitting in the surf and staring at him like a deer caught in the headlights. “Hello?” Louis questioned, now slightly out of breath but close enough to see the boy clearly. He leaned over to rest his hands on his knees while trying to regain his regular breathing pattern. “Are you deaf?”

“N...No, I’m actually Harry,” the boy replied, still looking more nervous than a high school boy asking his first girlfriend to prom. “That is, my name is Harry.”

“So I gathered,” Louis chuckled. “I’m Louis.”

“You almost died, Louis,” Harry pointed out. “But I didn’t let you. Also you smelled like fruit.”

“Thanks,” Louis smiled, confused beyond all belief but trying to maintain a conversation until he could figure out where to find help. “Do you know where I could find someone to help me locate my family? They were on that cruise last night…”

“I’m the only one who visits this island very often,” Harry murmured, glancing out over the ocean again, “But sometimes tourists come.”

“Uhm, island?” Louis squeaked, suddenly alert. “I need to find my family! They’re going to think I died! Do you have a phone or something that I could use to call my family? Or a boat, you must have gotten here on a boat or something.”

“I swam here, actually. And don't worry, Louis, they’ll come looking. You’re not the first person to fall off a party boat and end up here,” Harry smiled. “Usually this is the first place they look for silly people like you who fall off of boats.”

“Ah, do you rescue all the silly people?” Louis asked, still wondering how this guy had rescued him and brought him all the way here. Harry, although having some muscle to him, didn't seem all that strong. He was quiet and shy and he curled in on himself whenever he was about to talk, like he was afraid Louis would suddenly leap forward and bite him.

“No, sometimes my sisters do, too,” Harry shrugged. “I just liked you the most and I was closest. Actually, I was out on my own with the dolphins. Mother doesn’t like it when I go out on my own, but I do it anyway. I like the feeling of being free. The dolphins are okay, too, I guess, but they swim really fast and it's hard to keep up. They're also complete show offs.”

Louis half-listened to the boy ramble for awhile, speaking in what appeared to Louis to be code (or he was crazy), before finally asking the question that had been nagging at the corner of his brain.

“How did you carry me all the way here?”

“It wasn’t difficult. You don’t weigh much,” Harry shrugged again. He was fiddling with his own fingers, picking at them and fiddling his thumbs anxiously.

“But isn’t it hard to swim when you can’t use your arms?” Louis questioned, sitting down in the sand a few feet away from Harry, out of the water.

“No,” Harry scoffed. “Swimming is the easiest thing in the world next to breathing! Above or underwater.”

“Humans can’t even breathe underwater,” Louis guffawed. “You’re funny, I’ll give you points for that.”

“Points? Are we playing a game?” Harry quirked a curious eyebrow. Louis rolled his eyes.

“It’s a figure of speech.”

“Oh.”

“Don’t worry about it, I didn’t understand it the first time my friend used it,” Louis encouraged, feeling bad about making Harry feel bad. Louis took a moment to actually observe the other boy. He was tan and his hair was brown and wavy, reaching almost to his shoulders. It was slightly wet and tangled, but not matted, so he clearly took good care of it. When Harry glanced up at Louis, his eyes were a beautiful deep green. It almost reminded Louis of the strange green thing he’d seen last night…

“Hey, do you have a green surfboard or something?” Louis asked, “Because when you apparently rescued me, there was something green. I remember that. Actually, it was the reason I leaned so far overboard and fell.”

“I don’t have a surfboard, because I can’t surf,” Harry chuckled. “But I do have something green, and I'm sorry I'm the reason you fell off your party boat.”

“Okay,” Louis nodded. “Thanks. I thought I was going crazy, honestly. I thought it was some sort of weird fish.”

“It actually kind of was,” Harry said, suddenly nervous all over again. His shoulders hunched forward even more prominently and he glanced down into the water and back up again. His eyes searched Louis', full of apprehension and uncertainty. Louis felt something uncomfortable and nauseating settle down in the pit of his stomach when Harry looked at him like that. The glare on the water meant Louis could only see Harry’s torso, the water blocking out anything else. “Uhm...Louis...will you promise not to go screaming into the forest if I tell you something?”

"Sure...but I don't really know you that well. This deep-secret sharing thing seems rather sudden, doesn't it?" Louis asked, his voice more high pitched than usual. He cleared his throat. "Are you sure you want to share this with me?"

"You're probably going to be here for a little while," Harry shrugged, "The party boat will take a while to dock and then they'll have to send someone out here to look for you. It could be a little over a week."

Louis braced himself for something terrifying. Was Harry a murderer? Did he bring Louis here to sacrifice him to some sort of island god? “Sure, Harry...I mean, you saved my life so you can’t be too bad of a guy,” Louis let out an anxious laugh. "Tell me, then, what the green thing was that made me fall off my cruise ship and almost die." Harry breathed in deeply and lifted his tail out of the water, presenting it to Louis. Louis took one long look at the scales, which connected with Harry at the waist and effortlessly melded with his human torso before promptly passing out again. 


	2. Chapter Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They're getting to know each other. It's all quite cute.

Louis spluttered back to reality, blurry eyes noting that Harry’s hands were cupped guiltily in front of him. “You could have shaken me awake, or, I don’t know, waited until I woke up again,” Louis huffed, wiping the water from his eyes and flicking it from his hair. Now his shirt was damp again, which the sun would soon remedy. Louis did not much like the feeling of being damp or only partially wet.

“Sorry,” Harry muttered, “You’re not the first one to faint. That just works faster to wake you up again. It always works.”

“Wow, do you bring everyone to this island?” Louis teased, trying to make light of the strange situation. He was mostly sure he had heatstroke and was imagining this entire scenario. Harry didn’t seem to understand Louis’ innuendo and nodded.

“Yeah, this is where the police boats usually come to find people,” Harry stated. Louis withheld the dramatic eyeroll he felt coming on at Harry’s innocence and instead asked Harry how old he was.

“Oh, I’m nineteen in human years,” he beamed, proud of the fact he knew that. “And you’re, what, twenty one?”

“Old enough to get drunk and fall off a cruise ship,” Louis laughed. “So yeah. Good guess.”

“I looked at your wallet,” Harry smirked, “I cheated.”

“You looked in my wallet!?” Louis gaped. “Dude, that’s totally not cool.”

“Sorry!” Harry’s tail twitched in the water, sending out little ripples that quickly stole Louis’ attention away from their small, pointless argument. It also wiped away the question Louis had about human years in comparison to mer-people years and what Harry had meant by that.

“I can’t believe you’re actually a mermaid,” Louis breathed, watching as Harry swept the tail back and forth a few times beneath the water. The sun had set a little, and the glare had mellowed. Louis could clearly distinguish Harry’s tail as the fascinating green fish from the night before under the water’s surface. Louis realized, with a slight twist in his stomach, that Harry’s tail matched his eyes. Everything about him seemed freakishly perfect and cute, which is probably because Harry was actually a very well done hallucination. Louis had watched The Little Mermaid one or two too many times and now the only thing his brain could manage for how he swept up onto this beach instead of drowning in a horrific accident was the fact that he was rescued by Ariel’s brunnette twin brother.

“Merman,” Harry corrected after a few moments of pause. “I’m a merman. Mermaids are ladies.”

“My sincere apologies,” Louis said. “I’m really going crazy right now, and my manners are a bit off.”

“You don’t think I’m real,” Harry stated. He made direct eye contact with Louis and, with great determination, flicked Louis directly on the center of his forehead.

“Ow!” Louis complained, reaching up to rub the superficial wound. “I didn’t think hallucinations would hurt so much. Maybe it’s just my brain…”

“Jeez, Louis, I’m real!” Harry practically shouted. “I’m a real creature who lives under the sea!”

“Right now you’re only waist-deep in the sea,” Louis pointed out. Harry grumbled.

“Technicalities.”

A loud rumbling sound filled the air, breaking apart their second small argument. Louis glanced down at his stomach and blushed slightly. “I guess I’m hungry. It has been over a full day since I last ate a real meal.”

“There are some coconuts and bananas on the island, just inside the treeline. I can bring you some fish if you want. You’d have to make your own fire to cook it with, though,” Harry explained, pointing to a patch of trees up the beach that clearly held fruit.  Louis stood and stretched, shaking the sand from his shorts and brushing it off his butt. Harry held back a giggle, but appreciated how nice Louis’ bum actually was. Merpeople didn’t have the same structure, so Louis’ human form was fascinating. Harry had never rescued anyone close to his age, nor had he stuck around to talk to them. He had just left them on the beach and watched from a distance to make sure they were okay until the police boats came.

“I guess I’ll be back with fruit,” he shrugged. “And some wood.”

“I’m going to go for a quick swim, I’ll be back soon, though,” Harry smiled, “I just have to tell Mother what’s happened. She likes knowing when there will be more humans than usual in her hunting grounds and near our grotto..”

“Who is your mother?” Louis asked, glancing down at Harry, who was flicking his tail this way and that on his way towards deeper water.

“A sea nymph, duh.”

And Harry (the merman, with a real fish tail and the ability to breathe underwater, son of a sea nymph) was gone in a flash of green scales and brown hair.

“Of course, silly me. Oh, yeah, that’s completely normal. Totally cool, I’m fine,” Louis half-laughed, slowly making his way up the beach to the treeline. The soft sunlight of early evening gave Louis plenty of time to haul wood down the beach and make a large pile. He also managed to somehow clamber up some trees and gather two coconuts and a small bunch of almost-ripe bananas. He was lucky he kept in the habit of carrying a waterproof lighter with him at all times, because at this point reenacting Cast Away didn’t sound like a very fun idea.

When Harry finally swam back into the lagoon and pulled himself up onto the shore, Louis was just up the beach uselessly slamming a coconut into an outcropping of rock, screaming his head off about how stupid nature was.

“Do you need some help?” Harry called. Louis turned sharply, falling off the rock and into the ankle-deep water, stumbling for a moment.

“No, but I hate this stupid fruit,” he called back. “I can’t open it!”

“Bring it over here,” Harry yelled. Louis jogged over, splashing a bit as he ran in the shallows. He sat up on the sand, handing Harry the coconut. Harry glanced at it, spun it around in his hands, and finally shrugged. “I can’t help. I have no idea what to do with it.”

“Some brilliant mythical creature you are,” Louis groaned, flopping back onto the sand. Harry observed him. Louis was lean and lightly tanned, probably from being on the boat deck so often. His eyes were a bright blue and his hair was fringed in the front and floppy, always moving about when Louis was particularly excited. To be honest, the merman couldn’t explain to himself why he had stayed visible. Or why he had stayed on the beach to talk to Louis after he woke up. Or why he’d shared his very important secret. If Louis was rescued and went back to the humans, he could tell them about the merpeople. Then the humans would come back, like Mother said, and kidnap them all and keep them in merpeople sized goldfish bowls.

Harry didn’t want that at all.

“Louis,” he murmured, waiting for the other boy to sit up, “Louis, you won’t tell about me, will you?”

“What do you mean?” Louis questioned, sitting up again and looking over at Harry. He held in a gasp at how close and vulnerable Harry looked. His large green eyes were pleading and the lowering sun cast a pinkish glow over his beautifully tanned skin and flowing hair. This could be a still shot from a movie. A weird, sort of romantically tragic movie.

“The humans will put us in big tanks and poke us with sharp sticks and shock us,” Harry was suddenly on the verge of tears as he begged his new human friend not to betray him, “Mother said so.”

“Oh...nobody knows about you?” Louis asked, “But I thought you’d brought others here before me.”

“I didn’t really stick around to talk to them,” Harry muttered, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand awkwardly. He played with one of his ringlets nervously. “But you can’t tell them.”

“I won’t, I promise,” Louis smiled reassuringly. Harry beamed back. He grabbed the coconut up out of the sand and in one quick movement, smashed it against a nearby rock, busting a hole in the side. He handed it proudly back to Louis, who was slightly aghast at the sudden show of force. Louis took a sip from the hole before offering it to Harry, who looked happily shocked.

“What?”

“Drink some, it’s really good,” Louis offered.

“I’ve actually never tried this before,” Harry beamed, taking a sip. He hastily handed it back to Louis, wiping his mouth on his hand. “I don’t like it.”

“That’s okay, Harry, not everyone likes everything,” he smiled. Louis went about building a fire and starting it while talking to Harry about everything from his family (“My sisters are cute but useless) to his classes at university (“We call it uni where I’m from and I’m learning to be an English teacher”) he also explained the rules of football (“The goalies must have very good reflexes so the ball doesn’t get past them”). Harry was absolutely enamored. He pulled himself up into the sad and listened to Louis talk by the warmth of the fire until Harry drifted to sleep, his heart beating in time with the waves moving against the shore.

Louis smiled down at the half-fish half-boy resting against his side. He liked it on this island, and he was actually looking forward to the week ahead. He might be going crazy, but at least his solid hallucination was cute. Louis paused for a moment, considering the possibility that he had died and this was actually heaven. If the angels all looked like Harry, Louis was sure it could be possible. This could be heaven.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for the kudos and comments. I might need some characters pretty soon, so let me know if you'd like to be involved in the story. That would be so kind of you...to let me borrow you. Much thanks! Enjoy...more soon.


	3. Chapter Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Louis doesn't understand Merman sexuality, Harry teaches Louis how to breathe underwater. Sharks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have accidentally switched over into present tense and that is how it will stay from this point on. Sorry.

When Louis wakes up, Harry is curled against his side and his fin is wavering back and forth slightly, digging a little trench in the sand where he lies. Louis takes advantage of the situation, looking closely at Harry’s face and the way his nose curves and the way his mouth is pouty and looks so damn _kissable_ and Louis can barely stand it. He’s built like Zak Efron in 17 Again and Louis is impressed, although it’s probably a hard core workout swimming all the time. Louis shifts slightly, making sure the arm Harry is clinging to hasn’t gone numb overnight (it hasn’t) and continues thinking about how very pretty Harry is. For a hallucination. A long-lasting Little Mermaid inspired hallucination.

And maybe Louis is dead and should enjoy heaven for what it really is, like he had thought the night before. And maybe, just maybe, the possibility lingers that Harry is a very real half-fish person laying next to him in the sand, holding onto his arm for dear life in his sleep. 

A tiny groan pulls Louis from his thoughts, as Harry’s arms unwind from around his own and the merman stretches out, his tail long and glimmering in the early morning sunshine. He blinks up at Louis, green eyes glazed and sleepy, “Is it bad for you to sleep above water like this all night?”

“Usually it’s okay,” Harry smiles, very pleased with Louis’ concern for his health. “I just need to slip into the water for a minute so I can keep my scales from getting irritated, if that’s okay.”

“Do you need help getting back into the water?” Louis asks. Harry shakes his curly hair and pulls himself down to the water's edge, scooting in until he's waist-deep again, sitting on the sand. Louis is highly impressed with Harry’s strength and watches the way his biceps flex when he moves and the way the muscles of his back ripple ever so slightly when he shifts his weight or position. Louis likes Harry’s tan skin and broad shoulders, and he likes the way Harry’s face lights up like a child on Christmas whenever Louis asks him a question or talks to him about something Harry likes. Louis has decided that he just really likes Harry. 

“What do merpeople usually do all day?” Louis questions, adding kindling to the glowing embers of last night’s fire and watching them flare up enough to the point that he can add actual logs. Louis tends to the fire while Harry explains his underwater world.

“Well Mother is very important to our community. She is a full-blooded nymph, so she is basically a noblewoman, like a human princess or something. She’s in charge of my brothers and sisters and I and makes sure that we keep the ocean clean. We take care of sick animals and we learn about humans through all the ships they seem to leave underwater.”

“That sounds very exciting. Does that make you like, a prince?” Louis inquires. Harry laughs brightly, the sound makes Louis insanely happy for some strange reason that he chalks up to pride (pride that he made a good joke, of course, or something not involving a burgeoning crush on Harry).

“No. Mother is not the king. That’s Neptune, or if you’re greek, Poseidon. It honestly depends on his mood which one he’d rather be called. Mother is one of his favorite daughters,” Harry is preening now, proud of his heritage, “And when Mother married Father, Neptune was pleased and blessed her with a good standing in merperson society.”

“That sounds interesting. Who is your father?” Louis asks, poking at the fire with a stick to make sure it doesn't go out.

“Oh, he’s another nymph. He’s not as important as Mother, though,” Harry shrugs. “And I’m not as important as my sisters. The girls are the smart ones who generally get placed in higher positions.”

“Oh,” Louis blinked, unsure of how to respond. “Our world is the opposite.”

“You mean the girls aren’t always in charge?” Harry gasps, flicking his tail around in confused excitement.

“No, most governments are run by men,” Louis explains. “Except the Queen of my country is a woman. She’s been in charge for over seventy-five years.”

“She’s so old!” Harry beams, “For a human.”

“What is that supposed to mean? For a human?” Louis intones. Harry shrugs, flicking water around with his bright green tail and trying to think of how to explain this to Louis.

“Well, merpeople age a little differently than humans,” Harry said, “See, I’m nineteen in your years. For a merperson, I’m only ten or eleven.”

“Oh, so you age slower than humans,” Louis understood now. And it suddenly became weird because he was crushing on someone who, according to his society, was prepubescent. “That’s...awkward I guess.”

“I’m a fully grown adult according to human biology and psychology, and I’m mature,” Harry huffs, flicking his long hair out of his eyes. Louis chuckled.

“Oh yeah, real mature. Loads of maturity just rolling off of you in waves.”

“Shut up,” Harry mumbled, turning and beginning to swim away, “I’ll just go if I’m not mature enough for you…”

“Hey! Louis called, splashing into the water to chase Harry down again, “I didn’t say that, did I? I never implied that you weren’t mature enough for me, you just seemed really proud and I had to tease you. Friends tease their friends, that’s what they do.”

“We’re friends!?” Harry perks up instantaneously. His green eyes are wide with excitement and fascination. “I’ve never had a human friend before. You’re the first human!”

“That’s...exciting I guess. I’ve never had a merperson for a friend. So we’re even,” Louis grins and Harry grins and the moment is perfect. Louis walks back onto the beach and tugs his shirt off before he checks the fire once more, adding two more logs to keep it burning. “I think I’m going to go for a swim.”

“I love to swim. Do you want to see a shipwreck nearby?” Harry offers. “I can show you all the cool things the humans hide in their sunken boats. I found a science submarine once, that's how I know about biology and stuff. I read your human science books.”

“Unfortunately I can’t breathe underwater like you,” Louis queried. “So that’s a no. But it's really cool that you learn that stuff.”

“Actually, there is a way you can breathe underwater,” Harry pipes, dropping the science half of their conversation completely. He seems so eager and Louis can’t deny him anything with those huge green eyes staring up at him so pleadingly. Suddenly Harry’s look shifts from eager to a little awkward. “Only...there’s one problem.”

“What’s that?”

“I’d have to kiss you. Mermaids can impart a chemical through our saliva that allows humans to function in the same way we do. It’s sort of a poison, but it allows your body to process water-based oxygen like ours,” Harry explains. “It’s all very complicated and strange, but basically if I kiss you, you can breathe underwater with me and I can show you the boat.”

“Oh. Okay,” Louis quickly agrees. Kissing Harry is the easiest possible way to gain access to breathing underwater. It doesn’t seem like an entirely unpleasant idea, although merman sexuality is a topic they have yet to touch upon. Louis is sure they’ll talk about it at some point before he's rescued (which should be soon). This conversation would also explain the human mythology that mermaids kissing humans allows them to breathe underwater, although now it seems more science and less magic is involved. Louis wades into the water until he’s chest-deep and Harry can easily swim up to him without touching the sand beneath. Louis pulls Harry’s torso out of the water and supports him so Harry can nervously lean forward and almost-kiss Louis. But he stops halfway there and Louis grows confused.

“If you don’t like me, or don’t like men, you don’t have to kiss me,” Louis accidentally brings up sexuality too early.

“Oh, no, it’s not that...it’s just...you’re…” Harry trails off.

“I’m? Do I have horrible breath? Do I smell? Am I actually quite hideous, so hideous in fact that you can’t bear the thought of having to kiss me?” Louis jokes. Harry’s eyes widen, taking Louis' joke seriously, and he begins to panic.

“No! No! That’s not! I’m sorry! I didn’t mean-” Harry’s practically shouting, so Louis cuts him off by firmly planting his mouth on the younger boy’s, allowing Harry a moment to relax into it. When they separate, Louis’ lungs feel tingly and warm, a sensation he’s not sure he likes. But he can’t say he particularly dislikes it either.

“See? No problem,” Louis laughs. The air feels thinner, as if he were climbing a mountain. The more he laughs and breathes, the thinner the air feels and the dizzier Louis gets. Harry quickly tugs him under the water and takes his hand, guiding him along. Suddenly his lungs are full of air again, even though they’re filtering water. The sensation is odd, but it’s breathing, and Louis isn’t drowning, so he doesn’t mind.

Harry takes him to what he assumes is an ancient shipwreck, since boats haven't been built with this design in over two hundred years. Harry points out the masthead, the figure of Neptune himself carved carefully into the semi-rotted wood, covered in algae. The mast is snapped in half, part of it resting and partially buried in the sand immediately next to the ship. Whatever was left of the sails has long since disappeared, and empty metal hooks and bits of rope or chain are left swaying with the current from the mizzenmast. Two of the portholes are broken, and Louis avoids the shattered glass, opting to swim around and observe the outside of the ship first. Louis sends Harry a thumbs up to show his appreciation for the wreck, and Harry returns it, the look on his face instantly explaining that he has no idea what it means. They explore the ship for several hours before Louis starts to feel a soft, insistent tingling sensation again. He points up and kicks slowly to the surface, definitely not wanting a case of the bends and unsure if Harry acknowledged his exit or not.

When he breaks through the waves, his lungs are burning for much needed air and he gulps it in. His limbs are extremely tired and he feels suddenly sore and exhausted, as if he'd had a rather hard day at football practice. He looks around to find that the island is completely out of sight over the horizon, and Harry hasn’t surfaced yet. He dips his head beneath the water, looking around for the merman's signature colorful tail, when a large grey shape moves lazily closer. Louis pulls his head up from the water, squinting his eyes shut. He's completely frozen, his feet barely treading enough water to keep him afloat. “Shit,” he breathes, feeling his last moment is upon him. When he dares to peek down again, the grey shape is moving away and a green blur is speeding towards him. Harry! He’s safe!

“I’m so sorry, they’re not usually in these waters at this time of year,” Harry explains before anything else can be said, sensing Louis’ panic over what he assumed was a shark (and was apparently right about).

“It’s alright, I’m still alive,” Louis laughs nervously, his anxiety clear in the scratchiness of his voice. Louis looks around, the exhaustion setting in completely. “I’m really tired, Haz, can we find land?”

“Yeah,” Harry’s voice is suddenly breathy and soft and Louis is extremely confused.

“Did I do something wrong? Your voice changed and you almost sounded sad.”

“No, I’ve just never had a nickname before…” Harry beams. “I like it.”

Harry takes Louis back to the island, which turns out to not be as far away as Louis thought. Louis has to re-light the fire and stoke it while Harry finds him some fish to cook for dinner. He skewers them on sharp green branches and sets them over the fire to cook while he chats with Harry.

“So, earlier, what was that about kissing me?” Louis asks. Harry shrugs and tries to brush off the question, but Louis persists, needing an answer desperately.

“Well, you see, it’s just that...Mother wants me to marry this mermaid from a nice family that will keep our connections close with a neighboring kingdom and I really don’t like mermaids,” Harry explains, putting emphasis on _maids_.

“So you like mermen?” Louis suggests.

“Yeah,” Harry nods. “I like men. Not mermen, human men. They’re so pretty and they have...ya know...legs. Legs are so fascinating and different than boring old tails. And they're the same color as the rest of their bodies. And they have fur!”

“Oh my gosh you’re Ariel all over again,” Louis bursts out laughing, throwing his head back and letting the air come and go in large puffs as he continues to laugh, not seeing the hurt on Harry’s face until it’s too late and his new friend is thoroughly confused and sad about Louis’ reaction to his outpouring of feelings and thoughts.

“I’m sorry, Harry,” Louis says when he stops, noting the injured look on the adorable merman’s face. Harry resembled a kicked puppy so much in that instant that Louis' heart nearly broke right then. “It’s just that there’s a human movie, a moving picture we watch, about a mermaid who wants to be a human. She's fascinated with them and loves their books and culture and society. She learns about them and eventually she falls in love with this human prince that she rescues from drowning. So she gives up her voice to a sea witch in return for legs and has three days to kiss the prince before she gets turned into a slave for the evil witch.”

“Oh,” Harry smiles, “I see why that might be funny. She sounds like me.”

“Sorry,” Louis apologizes again, but Harry waves him off, bemused by the idea of this film.

“It’s fine, Louis,” Harry smiles.

They eat dinner together and Louis drags more wood down from the trees, stacking it up until he knows he’ll have enough for at least two days. Harry watches, smiling the whole time. He finally gets the courage to ask, “Who do you like? Men or women?”

“I like both,” Louis says, “Though I’m partial to men. I've dated a couple of girls and I loved them, but I much prefer dating men. I don't know why, it's just how I am.”

“Okay,” Harry nods. Louis is amazed at how accepting Harry is, how simply he takes the facts and just agrees with them. Louis wishes with all his heart that the human population were so understanding. For the second night in a row, Louis falls asleep with Harry curled up against his side and the fire warming them.

When Harry’s breathing is finally soft and regular, Louis kisses him on top of the head, admiring the curls that bounce when he moves them, and whispers, “Goodnight, my little merman.”

 

 


	4. Chapter Four

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Louis rescued and Harry visits his Aunt.

Eight days pass and nobody comes to rescue Louis. He spends a lot of time with Harry, practically every one of his waking moments. They go swimming, exploring shipwrecks, and usually end up snuggling on the beach at night. Sometimes Harry disappears for a few hours, but he always returns with that adorable dimpled smile and some sort of gift for Louis. At first it was a small bag of pearls, a few gold coins, and then it was shy smiles and flirtatious (he hoped) eyelash flutters in Louis’ direction. Louis continued building large bonfires at night and Harry would bring fish to cook, helping break coconuts open for Louis and accepting short, sweet kisses on the forehead as payment. Friendly kisses, of course. Louis being Louis kisses, just friendly affection and nothing to see here.

Louis mumbles sweet words into Harry’s hair as he falls asleep one night, consisting mostly of Louis telling Harry how beautiful he is, thinking that his little merman is asleep. Harry continues breathing softly, normally, like he usually does, but inside his chest his heart is hammering a thousand miles a minute because the lovely little thoughts he’s been having about Louis are suddenly a partial reality.Hearing Louis tell him that he’s beautiful and that his eyes remind him of the forest (how poetic) breaks something hopeful open in Harry. In the morning he asks the question that’s been nagging at him since Louis first arrived on the beach.

“Louis?” Harry tries to get his friend’s attention. Louis is cooking them breakfast, and glances up to the nervous merman. His heart stops in his chest when he sees Harry. The boy is halfway up the beach, his green tail sparkling in the morning light, reflecting the sun in every direction like a crystal hung in front of a sunny window. The sun is rising just behind him, forming a small halo of light around his curly brown hair, his features shadowed slightly, his tan skin was glowing. Harry looks like a piece of heaven and Louis beams at him, which encourages his friend to continue speaking.

“Yeah, Haz?”

“Stay with me!” Harry blurts. He instantly covers up his mouth, his eyes widening. It wasn’t meant to be so abrupt. Louis pauses in his movements and looks over at the adorably flustered merman, who tries to explain himself. “I mean, I would really like it if, you know, you could live here. I can help feed you and we can sleep together every night. And in the winter I’ll keep you warm under the water with me, and I’ll make sure you’re always happy. I’ll steal clothes for you from the other tourists. I promise. Just stay with me and be my friend forever.”

“Oh Harry…” Louis is trying not to tear up, he really is, as he walks down the beach to sit next to his dear friend. “Harry, darling, I can’t stay. I have to finish university and see my family. I have to make sure they’re okay and that they know I’m okay. As much as I would love to spend my life in this paradise with you, Haz, I have to go home when they come for me.”

“Oh…”

Harry sighs and slips further into the water, wanting more than anything to escape from Louis and these horrible feelings of rejection and hurt. Harry has never experienced love, but Louis has, and he felt it growing in his brain and heart every time Harry smiled at him with those dimples and his hair all flopped to the side and his laugh so wild and deep like the ocean he came from…

Louis stops himself and pulls the faintly struggling merman close to his chest, whispering into the top of his head as Harry finally lets loose a strangled sob, “I will always love you, my little merman, always. You will always be my friend.”

“But you won’t always be here,” Harry cries, clinging to Louis like a...like a drowning man. Louis thinks of the night he fell into the water and the absolute panic. He owes Harry his very life and here he is, abandoning him. But it’s not a hard decision to make, because the real world exists and he can’t escape from his responsibilities.

“No, and I’m so sorry,” Louis repeats. Harry thinks for a moment that maybe he should have left Louis alone on the beach that first morning and swam away like he did with all the others. He shouldn’t have let his curiosity get the best of him, because now it’s all ruined. Everything, and it feels like his heart is shattering into a million pieces. Louis feels much the same way, but doesn’t verbalize it. He only holds Harry while he cries, sobbing and shaking until he finally gives into a fitful sleep in Louis’ arms.

The boat comes that evening, before sunset. The two men hear the motor from a distance and Louis practically jumps out of his skin. Harry sends him a longing, hopeless look and pulls back into the water. “Harry, wait!” Louis calls, chasing after his friend. Harry pauses, looking back at Louis, who’s running into the water, sending up splashes around his ankles, then his knees, as he nears Harry. The boat is close and Harry looks panicked. He can’t be caught and both of them know that.

“Harry, I’ll always love you,” and Louis slams his lips against Harry’s, and Harry pushes up out of the water, wishing desperately that he could hold Louis like a proper human and kiss him until he knew that Harry truly did understand love, or at least intense affection. But then the boat is so close and Louis watches with sad eyes as Harry slips beneath the surface and disappears from sight, forever. The green of his tail is just as mysterious and beautiful as the first night it pulled him over the railing of the boat.

He’s on the news when he gets home. BRITISH UNI STUDENT FINALLY RESCUED FROM ISLAND. His mother is both angry and happy that he’s back. Angry that a drunken mistake almost took her son, happy that he made it home alive and seemingly well-fed. Louis is miserable for the first few weeks and throws himself headfirst into uni and studying and working. He doesn’t go near the ocean, he doesn’t talk much to his friends, he just reads and works and wishes for Harry.

* * *

If Harry had human legs, he’d be tiptoeing into the entrance of the dark cavern. But instead his tail propels him slowly, nervously forward. He can barely see the dark stone walls of the cave on either side of him and he reaches out desperately for the wavering light at the end of the tunnel. He can’t believe what he’s about to do, but he has to find a way back to Louis. He would do anything, honestly, he just wants Louis again, and the sad nagging feeling in his chest won’t go away until he gets to see him.

When his head finally pokes out of the water in the empty cave at the end of the tunnel, he glances around anxiously. She must be here, because she hasn’t left this cave in over two decades, or so his Mother told him when he was younger. The right hole in the rock had been hard to find, and Harry was hoping that the person he’d been searching for wouldn’t let him down. He nearly jumps out of his scales when a voice speaks from behind him, low and lulling and feminine, “This must be my nephew, Harry. You smell just like your mother, little one.”

“Uhm...yes, hello Aunt Sycorax,” Harry mumbles, turning to face her. She isn’t at all what he expected her to look like. Mother had made her sound like a personified angler fish, but Aunt Sycorax is quite beautiful. She has long, sweeping black hair that rests in gentle waves on her shoulders. Her eyes are kind, with laugh lines, and they’re a deep brown. Her skin is pale, probably from a severe lack of sun in the cave, and she smiles at Harry in a motherly manner. He relaxes almost instantly.

“What brings you here, little one? Is it your lost love from the island?” she questions, leaning forward. He nods, not sure how she knows, but understanding that her magic means she probably knows a lot more than that. Sycorax is a sea-witch.

Harry realizes yet another strange thing about his Aunt: Sycorax has legs. Human legs.

“I, yes, I need to find him, Louis,” Harry stumbles over the words. He’s so incredibly awkward when he’s nervous. The topic at hand and his reason for the visit are even more frightening to the young merman, “I need to be a human. Can you make me human?”

“Being a human comes at a price, dear,” Sycorax grins. It’s a terrifying grin of a predator that knows when prey is trapped. She knew what he'd come for, just as she knew what he'd been missing.“A very heavy price.”

“Can you make me a deal?” Harry offers. “Like my voice or something?”

“Ah, your human lover told you about The Little Mermaid, didn’t he?” she asks. Harry nods self-consciously, understanding that it was a stupid thing to say. Sycorax is comforting and unrolls a piece of paper that appears from seemingly nowhere. “You are not the first to bring me this request, young Harry.”

“So you’ll do it?” Harry beams. His Aunt rolls her eyes and hands him the paper. Harry reads it, eyes narrowing as he gathers the information. “He won’t remember me or our time on the island together?”

“If he remembered you, it would be too easy to make him love you again,” Sycorax smirks. “He loves you already. Read on, child.”

“And if I don’t kiss him within the year, I’m your...your…”

“Captive. Slave. Servant. You are mine, whatever I choose for you to be,” she states. “I once had a servant who failed me so badly that I locked him in a tree for hundreds of years until a sad little sorcerer released him and stole him from me.”

“That sounds horrible,” Harry murmurs, suddenly unsure of his decision. But then, in his mind’s eye, he sees Louis watching him leave, feels Louis kiss him goodbye again, and he knows what to do. “Where do I sign?”

“On the line, darling,” Sycorax hands Harry a pen and he signs the contract, yelping suddenly at the sharp pain in his wrist. A thin trickle of blood leaks out, and he glances at the red letters marking his name on the paper. He can’t get out of this now, he’s sealed it in blood. Not even his grandfather could save him.

Sycorax pulls Harry from the water, placing him on a cold stone table that causes Harry’s skin to cover with goosebumps. His Aunt begins chanting in the ancient language, which Harry is unfamiliar with. She moves a staff over his tail and Harry watches in pained fascination as his lower half begins to glow. She slams the staff against the ground and Harry experiences the most painful thing in the entire world. His scales revert to skin, spreading across his tail. His tail cleaves in two, new muscles and bones forming and reforming and he screams. He keeps screaming and his tail keeps morphing and changing until Harry has two pristine human legs and he is a puddle of tears on the table. He gasps for air and groans, unable to speak for a few minutes while his Aunt looks gleefully on.

“You have one year to find Louis and make him kiss you. You cannot initiate the kiss, or it will be forfeit. He must willingly kiss you,” Sycorax explains. Harry nods. “Louis has no memory of you. He remembers the island, but not you or your experiences together.”

“But how will he know that he loves me?” Harry questions. Sycorax scoffs.

“That is none of my concern. But should the year end and you have not succeeded in finding him and receiving a kiss, you will be mine to do with as I please,” she yanks his arm, and Harry quickly nods, fighting down tears again. Louis will love him again, Harry is sure. “Goodnight, little one.”

Harry wakes up on a beach, wearing swim shorts and holding a backpack. His head and legs are throbbing and when he stands, he stumbles for a moment before figuring out how this new limbs work. He awkwardly makes his way up the beach, uncertain about everything. This entire world is new to him, but only Louis is on his mind. Harry glances down into the backpack’s front pocket and finds a key with an address printed on it. Inside the backpack is a shirt, which he slips on to cover himself and keep warm in the cooling late afternoon air, and a map. He finds the key’s address on the map and begins to walk.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The first person to tell me where Sycorax is from and who the servant is that she locked in a tree gets a one-shot from me! Yes, they are actual literary characters from actual literature!   
> So yeah, first person to tell me correctly gets a one shot with ANY CHARACTER from ANY FANDOM!   
> Much thanks.


	5. Chapter Five

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry finds Louis. Niall catches things. Liam is a pain in the ass. Louis remembers Harry somehow...

               The first time Harry sees Louis, the blue-eyed boy is holding hands with a dark haired boy and they’re laughing. Harry’s stomach drops into his shoes as the dark haired boy leans forward and places a reverent kiss on Louis’ temple. Harry is behind the counter at the bakery where he now works, his mild manners and dimpled smile having instantly won over the elderly owner and gotten him the job. He makes enough money to help pay for the apartment he’s apparently been sharing with a boisterous Irishman named Niall for several months. Months Harry knows he hasn’t been human, and months that Niall has spent going to the same university as Louis. Harry got the job to work closer to both of them, but now his plan has completely crushed his heart.

         “Louis, love, you can’t have three cookies,” Harry hears the dark-haired boy says, giving Louis another affectionate peck. Harry clenches his fists beneath the counter and smiles widely when they get close enough to order. He may hate the intruder, but his love for Louis is as bright as the stars on a clear night. The merman-turned-human has missed his best friend, even though Louis has no recollection of their friendship.

“H-How can I help you?” Harry stutters, when Louis and The Boy reach the counter.

“Three chocolate chip cookies!” Louis demands, beaming widely. Harry’s breath is instantly caught in his throat and he just nods, walking over to the case and sliding the glass back. He reaches for wax paper when The Boy stops him, his voice similar to Harry’s in pitch and tone. Harry wonders if Louis likes The Boy’s voice because it reminds him of Harry.

“Make it four, please,” The Boy requests with a wink. Louis slams into his side, giving him a large hug.

“Oh my darling, you spoil me,” Louis giggles. Harry’s heart cracks further.

“Four it is.” Harry puts the cookies in a bag and hands them over the counter with a fake grin. “On the house.”

“Thanks, mate!” Louis is practically boiling with excited, happy energy. “Uhh…”

“Harry,” Harry introduces, pointing to his small name tag.

“Thanks, Harry,” The Boy chimes. The Boy takes Louis over to a nearby table in the bakery, where they sit and open the bag. Harry can’t believe his bad luck.

“Liam, love, you spoil me,” Louis croons, munching happily on a cookie.

“Technically he spoils you,” The Boy, whose name is apparently Liam, says, jabbing his thumb in Harry’s direction and sending him another dazzling smile. Harry sees why Louis likes this new human so much, he’s very nice and smiles like the sun. Harry sends them a weak nod before looking around for Marge, the owner.

“May I take my break, please?” Harry inquires. Marge nods and he disappears outside the back of the bakery. Harry collapses back against the firm, scratchy brick of the wall and sobs. His shoulders shake and heave, his breath coming in short pants and hiccups. He can’t believe it. Louis is lost to him, in love with another human so soon. Harry had hoped so hard that Louis would see him and remember everything, that it would be easy and they could go back to easy smiles and shared kisses and glances.

Harry collects himself, wipes his eyes with his sleeve, and walks back into the bakery like he hadn’t just spent fifteen minutes crying his lungs out in the alley. Much to his relief, Louis and Liam are gone when he returns. He finishes his shift in relative peace before returning home to the flat.

Niall is draped along the couch when he returns, watching a football match. “‘Ello.”

“I brought you a snack,” Harry tosses a paper bag at him and Niall catches it without looking up. He does that a lot and it freaks Harry out, though he won’t admit it to his roommate.

“I love you.”

“You say that every night when I bring you home a donut from work,” Harry chuckles.

“And I mean it every night,” Niall smiles, looking up from the couch, donut crumbs already on his chin. Harry doesn’t understand how one human boy can be so messy, but living underwater where crumbs don’t exist has probably spoiled him. Harry goes into the kitchen to see what’s left in the fridge and Niall calls after him. “I have friends coming over, if that’s alright.”

“Depends, who are they?” Harry retorts, “And will I have to cook for them?”

“I figured we’d order takeaway and watch the next big match together,” Niall replies. Harry can hear the shrug in his voice.

“Who are they, again?”

“A boy from my English class and his boyfriend. I already told them no necking on the couch, though, so don’t worry about germs,” Niall says, walking into the kitchen after Harry. He pulls a beer from the fridge and returns to the couch. Harry follows him empty-handed.

“Alright,” Harry allows, “Who’s playing?”

“Manchester and Barcelona,” Niall groans. “I don’t know who I love more, it’s a problem.”

“Well only one of them is British,” Harry intones. Niall nods, but then perks up.

“Harry, I’m not even British.”

“Then why are you here?” Harry laughs, causing Niall to chuckle along. Their joke is interrupted by several sharp raps on the door. Harry groans and stands, crossing the room before opening it a crack. “What’s the password?”

“What?” a shocked voice asks. Harry repeats himself and they stutter back, “Is this Niall’s flat?”

“Yeah, I’m his roommate Harry, come in,” Harry opens the door the rest of the way with a grin plastered on his face. He sees who’s standing outside and his stomach drops into his shoes. It’s Louis and Liam, and they’re holding hands. Liam has a case of beer in the other hand, and Louis has a pizza box.

“You’re the lad from the bakery!” Liam grins, “Niall never told us you were so generous or cute!”

“Come in,” Harry steps aside, his demeanor slightly more nervous and subdued than it was moments before. Liam rushes to give Niall a bro-hug, leaving Louis and Harry standing awkwardly in the doorway. Harry closes the door behind Louis and ushers him into the living room. “Nice to see you two again.”

“And you, pastry Harry,” Louis cajoles. Harry nods again, sullen and attempting to (poorly) hide it. Harry and Louis drift into the living room, where Liam and Niall are already breaking the beers open and cheering at the television. Louis sets the pizza down on the table and opens a box, taking the last available seat next to Liam. Harry shuffles forward a bit before changing his mind and heading down the hall towards his room.

“Ey, where are ya going?” Niall calls.

“To take a nap,” Harry snaps. He doesn’t mean to sound so angry, but he is. He’s angry and worried and nervous and sad. His whole future is crumbling apart. Liam and Louis could date for the entire year and Harry could end up as his Aunt’s servant. Or Liam could dump Louis and Louis could turn straight and...or...Harry is doomed to undersea slavery. He knows it. He flops face-down on his bed and breathes in through his nose in a sad attempt at not crying.

* * *

Sycorax is organizing her potions when she feels the tropical-heat presence of her sister behind her. She doesn’t turn as she asks, “What do you want?”

“I want to know the whereabouts of my son!” Calypso practically screeches. Sycorax smiles smugly to herself, smoothing her face to one of calm indifference before turning around to face her raging sister.

“The surface, I do believe,” Sycorax smiles, “He’s an earth dweller for one human year.”

“He won’t last long,” Calypso groans, running a hand through her hair, “What have you done to him?”

“Nothing he didn’t agree to,” Sycorax brings up the contract and offers it to her sister, whose eyes grow round and frightened the more she reads. “Nothing he didn’t agree to in blood.”

“He signed in blood?” Calypso could be sick. She could become very ill right now. Harry, her darling son, is in love with a human and has one year to gain his attention and affection. Should he fail, he belongs body and soul to her sister, an evil and manipulative sea witch. Calypso can’t bear the thought of her innocent son in the clutches of her sister.

“Do you want to make a counter-offer?” Sycorax murmurs, voice sickly sweet with not-so-hidden intention and suggestion. Calypso must do the most heart-breaking thing she has ever had to do, shaking her head ‘no’.

“I have a family and a kingdom to take care of,” she says, “As much as I love my son, should he fail, his choice is his responsibility and so are the consequences.”

“Good evening, then, sister dear,” Sycorax nearly sneers, turning back around to continue organizing her potions. The room returns to its regular cool temperature and Sycorax lets out a quiet chuckle. Everything is going according to plan.

* * *

Harry has the day off from the bakery, but he can’t stand sleeping in. He tiptoes into the kitchen and starts mixing up some pancake batter. Before the third batch is on the griddle, Louis wanders in. Harry jumps slightly, unaware that the other two boys had stayed the night. “Oh, hi Louis, good morning,” Harry greets brightly.

“You’re a lot happier this morning,” Louis grumbles, wiping the sleep from his eyes and sitting at a stool near the counter. He drowsily watches Harry make breakfast for awhile. “Why did you leave so fast last night?”

“Oh, no reason, just felt ill all of a sudden,” Harry shrugs, flipping pancakes.

“That’s bullshit,” Louis snorts. “We both know it. You were fine when you opened the door, pastry store boy.”

“It’s a long story,” Harry sighs, pouring more batter and listening to it hiss against the hot griddle surface.

“No one else is awake yet, and with the case of beer they managed to inhale, they won’t be for awhile. Fess up, Harry.”

“You just look like a boy that I...love?” Harry squeaks. He flips more pancakes and fixes Louis a plate. He tries not to watch Louis lick the syrup from his lip, but he does. He misses kissing Louis.

“These are amazing! Anyway, this boy?”

“I met him awhile ago...he was on vacation and I was a local. He was so sweet and had the most beautiful laugh and an amazing sense of adventure,” Harry rushed, trying to focus on not burning breakfast. “And we hit it off. I fell in love, I think he really liked me too, but he had to go home. I finally met up with him again recently, but he has a boyfriend.”

“That’s majorly sad,” Louis frowns into his pancakes.

"It's life, ya know?" Harry smiles sadly. Louis nods, his fringe bouncing slightly.

"Your voice is familiar," Louis says, but before they can get any further, Niall bounces into the kitchen. 

"Aw baby, you made me breakfast!" he kisses Harry sloppily on the cheek and Harry grimaces. Louis chuckles into his food, the conversation ended for now. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello babies! Tomorrow I get my wisdom teeth out and Wednesday night I might have a date, so this will be updated when I can coherently form thought at the next available time!  
> Love you all and thanks for the support!   
> Send me one-shot prompts, because after starting the winner's story I want more ideas! This will be over soon...so...I need more to write.


	6. Chapter Six

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Louis feels weird. Liam is a dick. Zayn appears. Niall needs to put a damn shirt on. Harry gets a date.

Louis and Harry don’t see each other again after that morning for several weeks. Harry is heartbroken again, it seems, as every day passes. He pines for Louis. Louis, for some reason, can’t stop thinking about Harry. He focuses on his dates with Liam and avoids Niall and Harry’s flat as often as possible, ducking out on football game nights with lame excuses about homework or volunteer work Liam knows he isn’t really doing. This lasts for nearly a month before Liam manages to drag his whining boyfriend over for the final Manchester United match before the big playoffs, which they will be watching at Niall’s flat, as is tradition. Liam is honestly sick and tired of Louis’s bad attitude, and it’s driving him up the wall.

Louis drinks three beers before the game even starts, having brought two cases himself. He doesn’t want to be here, doesn't want to think about anything, and definitely doesn’t want to see Harry, who has just come around the corner from the kitchen with a large bag of crisps in one hand and a pop in the other. Harry doesn’t like the taste or feel of alcohol, so he avoids it at these parties. Nobody judges him because, hey, more for them. Both Louis and Harry take note of the other’s presence and groan internally. Harry takes a seat in front of Niall, leaning back against his legs and letting the blonde boy lean forward and rummage through the crisp bag for a handful of snacks.

Louis buries himself in Liam’s side, and Liam wraps a surprised arm around his boyfriend. Louis isn’t generally so forceful when it comes to affection, allowing Liam to make a fool of himself with their public displays of cuteness. It’s the odd siren-song of Harry’s presence that drives Louis into Liam’s side and keeps him there for the entirety of the game, even as his boyfriend gets increasingly drunk and rowdy. Louis drinks too, too much, as usual, and ends up passed out on Liam’s lap by the end of the game.

Which means neither of them is driving home. So they have to stay in the apartment. Harry, who remains sober, covers Louis in a blanket and gives him one of the soft bolster pillows from the couch to lay on. He would have left him on Liam’s lap, but the angle looked horrible for his neck, so Harry moves him. Louis mumbles an incoherent thanks before blacking out again. Niall takes care of Liam, who is tucked up on the couch with his too-long-legs hanging over one arm and his head resting against the other. “Night, H,” Niall says. He bounces down the hall to his room, leaving Harry to sigh and pick up the empty beer bottles and crisp bags lying around the living room. Harry knows that Niall knows that Harry can’t sleep with a messy flat. He almost hates his roommate for leaving him to clean it on his own, but he also doesn’t mind.

He could use the time to think, especially with Louis so close and so angelic in his sleeping state. It’s the only time he hasn’t been actively avoiding the curly haired mer-human. Harry remembers the nights when Louis slept in the sand next to him, holding him close and mumbling sleepy cute things into his shoulder, nudging against him with his cold nose. He remembers the way it felt when Louis would run his hands through Harry’s long hair, always so fascinated by the curly strands. But that is no more. Harry sighs and tosses the bags in the trash, rinsing out the bottles in the sink one by one until they’re lined up nice and clean on the other countertop.

“Harry.”

Harry looks up from the sink, eyes wide and full of curiosity. That was Louis.

“Harry!”

Louis sounds scared, sad, and angry all at once. Harry darts around the counter and looks down at the sleeping uni student, who is kicking at his blankets and tossing back and forth fitfully. “Harry! Please, Harry! No, come back…”

“He’s dreaming about me,” Harry says to no one in particular. Liam hasn’t stirred and Harry is grateful. This is something he doesn’t want to explain to a rather possessive boyfriend, especially not one who could beat the crap out of him. He leans down, shaking Louis’s shoulder gently. “Lou? Wake up, Louis, it’s okay. I’m right here.”

“What the hell!” Louis jolts awake and yanks his shoulder out of Harry’s touch. Harry feels stunned, like he’s been slapped. “What’s wrong with you? I was sleeping, mate!”

“You were yelling at me in your dream, it sounded bad, I felt bad that you were having a nightmare,” Harry says, looking down at his hands like kicked puppy. Louis feels bad for upsetting his pseudo host and awkwardly pats the boy on the arm.

“I appreciate it, Harry.”

“Why have you been avoiding me?” Harry asks suddenly, still crouched next to Louis, who is tangled in the blanket.

“Because...I don’t really know, you just seemed familiar and it was bothering me,” Louis explained with a shrug, “I guess it was kind of rude, actually. The feeling of familiarity and the story you told me about the boy you love, it was weirding me out. I figured it was safer if I just kept my distance.”

“It’s alright,” Harry gives him a weak half-smile. The taller boy stands and heads for his bedroom. “I understand how you feel, completely. Night Lou.”

“Night Haz.”

Harry smiles sadly to himself at the nickname. Just inside his room is a calendar and Harry makes a tick mark over another day. Only nine months left to win Louis over.

* * *

Liam breaks up with Louis two weeks later in Louis’s dorm room. “You have such a shitty attitude all of a sudden!” Liam shouts, and Louis is sure the neighbors can hear him, “When we first started dating you were this lovely little fluff ball of energy, but I don’t know what’s happened. I don’t know what changed you and made you all moody and sad, but I can’t stand it anymore. I have tried and tried to cheer you up again, but I miss the old Louis. I liked him, not you. I can’t take you on dates and you never want to go to game night or hang out with my friends. I don’t even know your friends because you never felt fit to introduce me! Goodbye, Louis, and good luck with life.”

“Liam!” is all Louis can say, tears streaming down his cheeks as the other boy slams the door behind him on his way out. Louis doesn’t flinch at the sound. His blue eyes are red-rimmed and puffy from all the crying he’s been doing. He wants to be heartbroken, but Louis feels a weird mixture of relief and sadness. Like someone told him that a long-suffering relative has passed away and no longer feels any pain.

Louis and Liam don’t talk for another two weeks, which means Niall and Louis don’t speak for another two weeks. Which means that Louis and Harry don’t see each other for quite some time. Harry works extra shifts at the bakery and waits for Louis to come round to the flat again, but he doesn’t hold much hope. Eight months left to go and he’ll probably never see Louis again. He’ll probably end up slaving away for his Aunt.

Until Louis walks into the bakery. His hair is droopy, his eyes have bags underneath them, and his clothes look rumpled at best. Louis looks anxious and sad, and Harry wants to do anything he can to fix it. “Hello Louis,” Harry smiles when Louis approaches the counter. “How can I help you?”

“Cinnamon bun, please, and a hot black tea with room,” he orders, fringe hiding the tops of his eyes. Harry finds it adorable and endearing. It’s not all up in a quiff the way it usually is, it’s all natural, like it was on the island.

“Alright. That’s going to be coming out of my paycheck,” Harry beams. Louis looks confused and furrows his eyebrows together. He’s so adorable, the younger boy could just explode with the amount of love he holds for the uni student before him.  

“What?” Louis asks.

“It’s on the house, or rather on Harry,” Harry jokes, putting a warm cinnamon bun in a plastic container and taping a fork to the lid. He prepares Louis’s tea and hands them both to the shocked boy, who hasn’t moved from his place in front of the register.

“Uhm, thanks,” Louis smiles lamely, glancing between the container and Harry. “I’ll talk to you later.”

“Anytime,” Harry grins. He dares to wink and it earns a genuine smile from Louis. Louis can’t hide his joy as he adds cream and sugar to his tea, trying to ignore the soft stare Harry is sending in his direction. The siren’s song is still there, pulling him to the younger boy for some reason, but he resists it enough to escape the bakery. Harry’s whole day goes by amazingly fast after his interaction with Louis, and he goes home with a skip in his step that hasn’t been there since he first turned human.

Niall is lying shirtless, upside down on the couch with a textbook resting on his stomach when Harry walks into the flat. He shoots his roomie a confused look. “Aren’t you supposed to be studying for some big maths test?”

“None of your business, fluffy,” Niall groans. Niall has been testing out silly nicknames for Harry for the past few days, and Fluffy is one of his apparent favorites, having made several appearances (luckily none in front of Liam, who would never let him live it down). Harry has heard it several times, and each time he rolls his eyes at his roommate a little more forcefully and with slightly more of a dramatic flair.

“Nerd,” Harry retorts. Niall just huffs.

“The boys are coming over tonight,” Niall quips after a few minutes of comfortable silence. Harry is in the kitchen, scrounging around for something to make or eat.

“Which boys?” Harry inquires. Peanut butter and jelly it is, he decides as he reaches for the strawberry preserves.

“Liam and his boyfriend,” Niall’s verbal shrug is obvious again.

“I thought he broke up with Louis,” Harry called, trying not to sound completely cool about it. He’d been waiting so long for them to break up so he could have his chance with Louis while there was still time. Hopefully, selfishly, they hadn’t gotten back together.

“It’s a new one. Name’s Zayn or something. Art major I guess, quite the looker according to the footie team.”

“Okay,” Harry doesn’t care. Niall has friends over all the time, mostly Liam and whoever his significant other is. Harry ignores them and stays in his room, much like a cat. He avoids contact or confrontation. Or really any social situation. Harry is still, for all intents and purposes, still a merperson living in an unfamiliar world. Assimilating is a tough spot for him.

“Are you going out tonight?” Niall always asks him. Harry always says no.

“Yeah,” Harry surprises himself. “I might ask Louis to coffee.”

“Do you even have his number?” Niall scoffs. Harry isn’t actually sure if he has Louis’s number, but he does have Louis’s twitter account name. He tweets him out for coffee, and Louis responds with Sure.

Harry gets his number through the private messaging system and they set up a time and location, Harry rubbing it in Niall’s face all the while that he’s finally gotten a date. “Thank God,” Niall groans from the couch, “I was getting sick of having you home all the time. Maybe you’ll finally get a proper snog.”

“Shut up,” Harry blushes. “And put a shirt on.”

“Whatever. Maybe if Zayn is as hot as everyone says, he’ll leave Liam for my sexy body,” Niall winks. It takes all of Harry’s willpower not to roll his eyes.

“I’m going to get dressed and go on my own date, thanks,” Harry says, heading for his room. All he really has to do to prepare is change his shirt and brush his flowing hair. He tucks it up into a little bun and grabs a hoodie from the closet, in case it gets chilly. With that same skip in his step, Harry is on his way to his first date with Louis. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Seriously, guys, email me some freaking prompts. I'm dying here. I need ideas! PLEASE!


	7. Chapter Seven

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Louis is kind of a dick. The first date goes well. Harry gets a warning.

Harry tries not to look extremely, horribly nervous as he sits at the tiny table in the back corner of the cafe. His coffee is warming his shaking hands, and he’s looking around every five seconds like a maniac killer in search of his next victim. He keeps questioning whether or not he looks okay, if Louis understands that Harry likes him, and he wonders if the barista will ever stop checking him out because he is clearly not interested.

When Louis does show up, his hair is done up nicely and he’s wearing the cutest jeans and a band t-shirt Harry can’t read from this distance. The blue-eyed human looks around in confusion and Harry stands, clumsily knocking against the table and blinking back tears at the pain in his shin. He waves at Louis, who smiles and makes his way back towards the table. “I didn’t know what you wanted, so I didn’t order for you.”

“Uh, that’s alright, usually I just have tea with cream and sugar.”

Before Louis can even offer to buy it himself, Harry is at the counter placing the order. Louis wonders how he got over there so fast before realizing that Harry has incredibly long legs. Harry is tall and long and awkward and reminds him of someone, faint in his memory. Harry returns with the tea and a large, dimpled smile.

“Thanks.”

“Yeah, uh…” Harry isn’t quite sure how human dates works as he takes his seat across from Louis. “How are you?”

“I’m alright, a bit busy with exams coming up,” Louis nods. “But I’m feeling much better now about the whole Liam thing. Probably shouldn’t bring up exes on a date.”

“I don’t mind,” Harry shrugs. Louis laughs nervously and ruffles his perfect fringe. Harry doesn’t mind that Liam came up in conversation because Louis called it a DATE! Which means that he might actually be into Harry! As more than friends! Harry has a chance!

“So, what are you studying?” Louis inquires. Harry’s brain short circuits.

“Oh, I don’t go to uni,” Harry blushes. Louis feels bad for making Harry self-conscious and pats him awkwardly on the arm, ignoring the little sparks of happiness that come from touching Harry. Something about the taller boy is so comfortable and easy, it makes Louis wary.

“It’s alright, I didn’t want to go to uni,” Louis winks. Harry laughs. Everything comes so naturally to them. It only takes a few minutes before they’re joking back and forth and conversing naturally and easily across the table from each other.

Louis doesn’t want to admit it to himself, but the ease with which he gets along with Harry is attractive. He’s still so into Liam, so angry about Liam’s break up, that Louis does everything he can to find flaws about his time with Harry. It drives him up the wall because Harry certainly doesn’t deserve it, but Louis does. Louis needs to be angry. And, Louis thinks, Harry has a weird laugh. He clings to that, because it’s all he has. Harry is too lovely to be human.

“So, uhm, I heard you got lost at sea?” Harry asks. Louis rolls his eyes.

“Yeah. I had my fifteen minutes of fame,” Louis snorts. “I don’t really remember much from the island, honestly.”

“Did you bring anything back? Did you find any cool treasures or did you just lay on the beach most of the time?” Harry asked, honestly curious about what Sycorax did to Louis’s memory. Louis’s angry feeling fades with every earnest question Harry asks. His eyes, so wide and green and full of pure curiosity, Louis can’t stay mad. Not at Liam, or Harry, or himself.

“I have a few gold coins and some pearls,” Louis shrugs, “But I can’t remember how I got them, for the life of me.”

“Weird,” Harry smiles.

“Yeah, real weird,” Louis can’t help smiling back.

“If you could be any mythical creature at all, what would you be?” Harry asks as he walks Louis home. They’re side-by-side, arms touching but

“I would want to be a mermaid!” Louis exclaims.

“Why?” Harry hopes Louis can’t see or hear the fact that Harry’s heart is about to beat out of his chest.

“I don’t know. I guess...well they’re always shown as being both playful and powerful. Drowning sailors with just their voices-”

“Oh, those are sirens,” Harry interrupts. “Not the same thing, but continue.”

“Oh my gosh, you’re a total nerd!” Louis laughs. Harry beams. He loves the ringing, bright sound of Louis’s laughter and he hopes to hear it more. “Anyway. They’re beautiful and powerful and smart. They get to live underwater and see sunken ships and swim with dolphins…”

Louis’s eyes go glassy and he flashes back: _He looked down over the railing to see several dolphins trailing, jumping out of the water as they followed the ship. He was happy, watching the dolphins jump and squeak as they leapt over the tops of the tiny waves created in the wake of the slow-moving boat. He laughed, glancing between them and the stars and smiling in his inability to process just how large the universe truly is because his mind was completely wiped away by the taste of fruity alcohol._

_That’s when he saw the green. The flicker of green amongst the grey of the dolphins caught Louis’ eye and he glanced down, straining his vision, guessing that he saw something that probably didn't exist. But there it was again! A long green streak in the water, looking finned and vaguely scaled._

He comes back to reality when Harry starts snapping his fingers in front of Louis’s eyes. “Hello? Earth to Lou? You just stumbled for a second and stopped walking.”

“Sorry, I remembered something,” Louis gives a breathy laugh. He allows Harry to hook their arms together at the elbows, like an old-fashioned couple, and continue to guide him down the street.

“That was like a scene from a movie. Suddenly you just stopped and people walked past looking just as confused as I felt,” Harry chuckles. “What did you remember?”

“I remembered the night I fell off that cruise ship,” Harry can sense the blush in Louis’s voice. “I was leaning over the railing to look at some dolphins, and there was this bright green thing in the water. I thought it was a fish. It had scales the same color as your eyes, actually.”

“Wow, I’ve never had my eyes compared to a fish before,” Harry winked. Louis laughed again, sending Harry’s heartbeat into a frenzy.

“You remind me of someone,” Louis says.

“You said that awhile ago,” Harry nods. “But we were interrupted by Niall being...himself.”

“It’s been bugging me for weeks,” Louis sighs. “But I can’t recall who it is!”

“Was it from the vacation?” Harry prompts. He feels a sting in his leg and bites at his lip to keep from screaming. The pain is bright, bursting through his head like canonfire and his leg itches and burns at the back of his right thigh. It takes all of his willpower to continue acting normal.

 _“No, no, little one. No telling him who you are. That’s cheating,”_ the voice of Sycorax echoes through his pain-numbed brain.

“Maybe,” Louis shrugs. Harry and Louis reach the door to his flat building, and Harry removes his arm from Louis’s awkwardly. “Goodnight Harry.”

“Goodnight Louis,” Harry smiles. They hug, briefly, and Louis darts quickly inside. Harry sighs and returns to his own flat, where Niall is eagerly waiting for news of the date.

“How did it go, mate?” Niall beams, sitting on the counter with a large bowl of crisps on his lap.

“It went pretty well,” Harry smiles.

“That’s good. Louis is a cutie, eh?”

“If he wasn’t, do you think I would have asked him out?” Harry teases. Niall rolls his blue eyes and shoves another handful of crisps into his mouth.

“I’m going to watch a footie match, care to join?” Niall invites.

“Actually I think I’m going to shower,” he declines.

“Gonna have a nice wank to thoughts of your date with Lou?” Niall jests, making obscene hand gestures in the immediate area of his pelvis. Harry snorts and turns, grabbing pajamas from his room and heading for the bathroom. He shimmies out of his skinny jeans and inspects the back of his leg where he’d felt the burning. There, on the back of his right thigh, is a small patch of green scales. Harry rests his head on the cool fake stone of the bathroom counter and huffs out a sigh. This could have gone so much better, but his Aunt’s warning is clear: no cheating.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for the prompts and kudos!


	8. Chapter Eight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Louis is a right dick. Harry is a puppy. Niall is protective. Zayn and Liam are sickeningly sweet.

Louis makes a point of not talking to Harry or any of his friends for the following three months. Louis brushes Liam, Zayn, and Niall off by saying he, “Isn’t feeling sociable.” and “Just wants to be alone until he feels better.”

Harry nervously ticks off each day on his calendar and texts Louis once and awhile, but doesn't want to bother him. Louis never responds, anyway. Harry also doesn’t want to think about the fact that he only has 4 months left to get Louis to kiss him. Or is it 3 months? Harry isn’t sure, but Louis avoids them solidly and without fail, leaving the curly-haired merman in an absolute panic. He works double shifts to distract himself. He cooks Niall three course meals and throws dinner parties for ‘the lads’ with his extra time and money. He volunteers at a local animal shelter and discovers that he absolutely loves cats. He visits with them as often as possible, when he’s not cooking or working.

“I thought your date went well,” Niall shrugs after Harry comes home from work deflated and tired halfway through Month Two of No Louis. At the end of Month Three of No Louis, Niall comforts Harry with a neon pink frosted cupcake from a local pastry shop and says that the crush will pass. Niall even makes Harry a special “Louis is a Right Tosser” playlist. But it doesn’t help, it can’t, and Harry’s chest aches with the thought of Louis day in and day out. His darling, his love, the boy who meant everything to him and spent every moment with him now seemingly gone forever, taking the little chance of Harry’s free life with him.

University ends for the year, releasing the students for summer break. Harry bemoans the fact that Louis will probably move back to his hometown for the last months he has as a human and completely forget about his friends. Liam and Zayn come over almost every weekend to hang out with Niall and they sometimes try to comfort Harry, which they do awkwardly and without much success because Harry is too wrapped up in the fact that soon, too soon, he will no longer be a human. Or free.

So, sick of Harry’s moping and with a deep need to get both drunk and probably sunburned, Niall plans a day trip to the beach and an evening out clubbing (one right after the other, of course, because Niall does everything in excess). He calls up Zayn and Liam, who promise to pack their own lunch and towels, and watches as Harry makes lunch for the two of them in the kitchen. “We’d have more crisps to take to the picnic if you didn’t eat all of them yourself,” Harry huffs, packing what’s left of their bag of snacks into the cooler. Niall slips in two soft drinks in colorful cans, the fruity flavors that Harry likes most.

“Whatever, mate, I’m always hungry,” Niall complains.

“You’re telling me,” Harry snorts in response, receiving a smack on the arm from his peeved blonde roommate. “Hey! I do most of the shopping, cooking, and kitchen maintenance around here, you can’t hit me or smack me around.”

“Wouldn’t want to lose my adorable maid service or personal chef,” Niall flutters his eyelashes and Harry sighs in defeat, packing the last of their food and zipping the cooler closed. “I’ll get the beach towels from the hall closet! I know they’re in there somewhere.”

“Alright, I’ll grab our sandals from the entryway,” Harry decides. He totes the cooler to the door and sets it down, digging through the small pile of boots and shoes to find his and Niall’s flip flops. He’s found one of his and one of Niall’s, and that’s when he hears what he thinks is a knock on the door. “Was that you knocking into something, Ni?”

“No!” Niall shouts back. “Check the door.”

The quiet knock comes again, so Harry opens the door. Standing before him looking both incredibly sheepish and horrible scared is none other than the mighty (not so much now) Louis. Harry lets out a long breath and a small, “Oh.”

“Sorry to barge in like this, but, Liam called me on what I’m pretty sure was a last ditch effort and said everybody was going to the beach today,” Louis explains, “And I feel like a tosser for acting the way I did-”

“Yeah,” Harry agrees. Because as much as he loves Louis with all of his heart, he’s miffed. “Quite the tosser.”

“I want to make it up to you, Harry, really,” Louis pleads, seeing the sad, hurt look in Harry’s eyes and his kicked-puppy expression. Louis’s heart is beating faster than a hummingbird’s and his gut is twisting with anxiety. “I want to take you to dinner tomorrow, to show you that I’m a huge idiot and I’ve finally realized it. I was angry with Liam and I totally, completely took it out on all of you, but you especially, darling Harry. You were so sweet and caring when you took me out for coffee that I hated you for it. I wanted someone to be rude to me and for me to instantly dislike them because I was still so hurt over Liam.”

“You want to take me to dinner to apologize for ignoring me for three months?” Harry asks, feeling just as incredulous as he hopes he sounds. Louis cringes at Harry’s bold but truthful question.

“Yes! Dinner and a movie and a bottle of champagne!” Louis decides. “Two! Three bottles of champagne! On the beach, at sunset, I’ll pick you up in a carriage, Harry, anything you want.”

“Anything?” Harry inquires. Louis is still standing in the hallway of their apartment building looking very short compared to Harry, and very nervous. Louis nods quickly and with much force, his fringe flopping around comically. Harry would laugh, but he was busy trying to still act hurt even with his heart beating loudly and happily in his chest with the thought of a second chance with Louis.

“Anything in the whole world that I can physically do for you, Harry,” Louis agrees, crossing his finger over his heart for added measure. Harry strokes a fake beard and thinks about it, letting Louis shift his weight from foot to foot long enough for Niall to finally find the towels. He comes around the corner smiling widely and,  upon seeing Louis, scowls.

“What does he want?” he asks Harry.

“To give me anything he physically can,” Harry states. Niall rolls his eyes and huffs.

“Ask him to physically remove himself and throw himself out a window. You’ve been working ‘round the clock to forget this wanker, why give him a second chance?” Niall scoffs.

“You’ve been working more?” Louis raises his eyebrows. From what he remembered, Harry already worked four to five days a week.

“I’ve been working doubles at the bakery and volunteering at an animal shelter in my free time. Actually I did it to get rid of my free time so I wouldn’t have to think of you,” Harry admits. Niall is wrapping their towels around the cooler handles and finds the last two flip flops in the muddled pile of footwear near the door.

“I’m so sorry,” Louis apologizes. Niall taps Harry’s shoulder impatiently.

“We’d best get going, mate, or we’ll be late to meet up with the rest,” Niall suggests, knowing full well that the other boys will be late anyway because Zayn can’t leave the house without looking like a magazine cover model.

Harry looks at Louis and sighs, taking the cooler and towels from Niall and pushing past him. “I want you to prove it.”

“Prove what?” Louis asks as Harry and Niall lock the flat behind them and begin to walk off down the hallway.

“That you’re sorry, and that you like me,” Harry replies. Then he and Niall disappear into the stairwell and Louis is left standing in front of the flat wondering how the hell he’s supposed to prove to Harry that he’s sorry and ‘likes him’ after having his brilliant dinner date idea rejected. Louis is no good at planning dates or being very romantic. Liam took care of that for him, and before Liam there was that Eleanor girl who did all the planning. Louis was lost.

Finally, without a single clue as to what he should do for Harry, Louis decides he’ll wait until later to call Niall and ask for both forgiveness and his advice.

* * *

Harry hopes that his shorts don’t ride up in the water far enough for the lads to see his ‘skin condition’. The scales are a bright, shimmering green and anyone would focus on them instantly if sunlight hit them. Being a merperson was both a blessing and a curse, in Harry’s personal opinion.

He doesn't really have time to think about much else, because as soon as he’s waded in up to his hips (the water is nearly freezing, but nice for this time of year) Niall is chasing after and screaming his head off. Harry tries to escape, but the water slows him down, and he’s tackled into the surf by his blonde best friend. He comes up sputtering and coughing, his long curly hair now flat and plastered against his face and down the back of his neck to his shoulderblades. “You need a trim,” Niall jokes, tugging at the wet strands.

“You’re an ass,” Harry spits back, shaking his head around and spraying his friend with the droplets.

“The best,” Niall wiggles his butt in the water playfully and Harry splashes him. A shout from the shore brings their attention to Liam and Zayn, who have finally arrived twenty minutes late.

“We couldn’t wait any longer! The water looked too nice,” Harry calls up the beach, wading back towards his friends. Liam laughs and Zayn looks horribly put out.

“The pansy here couldn’t decide which swim trunks made his butt look nicest,” Liam jokes. Zayn harrumphs and crosses his arms over his chest.

“Why? You have Liam already, there’s nobody to impress,” Niall snorts.

“He also had to fix his hair,” Liam adds.

“Oh, I can do that really quickly!” Harry declares, reaching and wrapping his wet, cold arms around Zayn’s middle. He hoists the darker skinned boy over his shoulder and totes him, kicking and screaming for help, down the beach. He wades out a ways and unceremoniously heaves Zayn into the waves. Zayn comes up much like Harry did, trying to breathe, and the boys on shore along with Harry (who is beating a quick retreat onto the sand and the safety of Liam) are laughing their asses off. Zayn grumbles his way back to the shore and glares at Liam.

“No sex for two weeks for letting him do that to me,” he huffs, spreading out his towel and laying down. “And don’t interrupt me, I am tanning.”

“You’re already a shade and a half darker than the rest of us,” Liam chuckles, knowing that his adorable boyfriend’s threat is oft-used and never followed up. “Come swimming.”

“I’d rather not,” Zayn lays his head on his arms and stops replying to Liam’s entreaties. So his boyfriend shrugs and removes his shirt and the the three of them play in the waves for hours, eventually coaxing even Zayn into their game of chicken. Zayn and Liam win, of course, and kiss passionately after to prove to everyone that they really are disgustingly cute and affectionate.

“It’s getting late,” Harry yawns. “We should go get ready if we’re going to hit the club tonight.”

“You’re right,” Niall agrees. “Meet you boys at Glitter at ten thirty?”

“Of course, we’ll see you there!” Liam practically chirps. They gather their things and head their separate directions. Niall checks his phone and sees four texts and three missed calls, all from Louis. He groans and calls him back, waiting for his friend to pick up.

 _“Niall!”_ Louis sounds immensely relieved.

“Yeah, can I help you, you twat of immense proportions?” Niall asks. Harry is too far ahead to hear any of the conversation, which Niall is grateful for. Harry’s been hurt enough and if need be, Niall is ready to lay Louis flat. 

 _“I need your help. Harry wants me to prove that I’m sorry and that I like him, you heard. And I want to give him the best possible day he could ever want or imagine. I want to apologize in a million different ways in a single afternoon. Help me, please Niall, I’m shit at this stuff,”_ Louis begs. Niall smirks to himself.

“I’ll help you, Louis, but only only if you promise you’ll never make him cry anything other than happy tears ever again,” Niall demands. He can practically hear Louis’s head nodding freakishly fast like it does when he’s excited.

_“I promise, Niall, on my Mother’s grave.”_

“Be at my flat tomorrow at noon, Harry has a shift and we can work then.”

_“Thank you so much!”_

“Don’t thank me, yet.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! I've started a new multi chapter story, since this one is almost over. It's a royalty AU and I'm going to post a couple first chapters and let my lovely audience pick which one stays. Thank you all so much for the kudos and support, I love you!


	9. Chapter Nine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Louis is less of an ass. Niall is helpful. Harry's time is up.

Louis feels like a complete moron as he peeks over the top of the newspaper again, checking Harry’s apartment building to see if he’s left yet. Louis is sitting on a questionable looking park bench a few meters away from the building's entrance wearing his usual cotton shorts and a pastel button-down. He's holding a newspaper comically in front of his face to block his identity from view (mostly from Harry). Louis hears a door slam and peeks over the edge of the news again, watching Harry turn away and walk down the block. As soon as the lanky boy rounds the corner and leaves his sight, Louis tosses the newspaper into the trash bin and is practically flying up the stairs of the building to Harry and Niall’s shared flat.

He knocks three times, nervously, and waits only moments before Niall opens the door and gives him a skeptical look. “He was heartbroken, you giant twat.”

“I know and I need to make it up to him,” Louis pleads. "I can't do that without you."

“You’d better prove to me that you’re not going to ruin his life again,” Niall glares, “He means a lot to me. I like it when he’s happy, and you took that away from him for a long time. He's just gotten that cute little skip in his step back and I won't have your dumb ass ruining it.”

“I’m sorry, what more can I say to make you believe me?” Louis groans, digging the heels of his palms against his closed eyes. He’s tired, worried, and a nervous wreck. He wants, he _needs_ , to do everything in his power to fix things with Harry and prove that the crush is reciprocated in the best way.

“Your agonized grumbling has given me a need to be merciful,” Niall finally smiles, giving in to his close friend. “What do you want to do to prove your undying like?”

“He asked for proof, and you know him the best. I need ideas, because I’m shit at this,” Louis admits.

“Harry loves swimming. He’s been talking my ear off about swimming for a solid month, ever since the water looked nice enough to maybe step foot in,” Niall explains. “So why not take him to the beach? You could plan a really romantic sunset picnic with swimming?”

“Niall, you’re an angel,” Louis beams. “A real angel from heaven and everything!”

“I feel special already,” Niall teased, putting a hand over his chest dramatically. “Just paint me with wings!”

“Shut up. What kind of sandwich does Harry like?” Louis is actually taking notes on his phone at this point, having made notes about swimming and sunset already.

“Actually, he’s more of a baguette with Nutella kinda guy,” Niall shrugs, “The artsy kind. He always wears those flowy shirts with the buttons half undone. He likes slow, soft music like you hear in the background of indie films. He’s a sweetheart, but he doesn’t take shit from people either.”

“Alright,” Louis is typing furiously with his tongue between his lips, looking ridiculously like a secretary. Niall chuckles and shakes his head, adjusting his ‘bitch magnet flow’. Being the token straight was a very amusing job, but Niall enjoyed it. He kept an eye on his friends and made sure they were taken care of.

“Anything else you need to know?” Niall asks, crossing his arms and sitting on the arm of the couch. Louis looks up sheepishly and grins like an idiot.

“Where can I find an old fashioned wooden woven picnic basket?”

* * *

Two weeks later, Harry is blindfolded in the passenger’s seat of Louis’s car, his hands twitching nervously in his lap. He’s biting his lip and moving his head around, even though he can’t see a damn thing through the twice-wrapped black cloth. The radio is playing a soft song, and he can only barely hear the lyrics over the crazy thumping of his heart. Louis is softly singing along, sounding like an angel, as usual, and Harry wants to know where they’re going.

“Where are we going?” he asks.

“It’s a surprise, I’ve told you that about a million times,” Louis laughs.

“Ughhhh,” Harry whines, leaning his head back against the headrest. “How many weird looks have we gotten?”

“Several, but nobody looked like they were going to call the police on me,” Louis replies. Harry can hear the smile in his voice. Harry tries to bite his lip more to keep from smiling too widely. The car stops, suddenly, and Harry is on high alert. He hears Louis unclip his seat belt. “No peeking!”

Louis’s car door slams and moments later the trunk is opened. Harry hears shuffling and a quiet grunt before the trunk shuts and the warm air filters in as Harry’s door is opened. It smells like salt and dead fish and he can faintly hear the calling of familiar birds. “The ocean!”

“You guessed,” Louis groans, pulling off Harry’s bandana and allowing him to look around as his eyes adjust. They’re at an old lighthouse, which has long been abandoned based on the building’s crumbling structure. The beach just below them is clear of any other people, and the sand looks soft and inviting. Louis has an old-fashioned picnic basket in one arm and a blanket folded over the other. His smile is wide and gleeful, and Harry’s soon follows suit as he takes off his own seatbelt and hops down out of the car.

“You are fantastic!” Harry pecks Louis on the cheek and follows him down the beach to the sand (which is as soft and fine as it looks). Louis spreads the blanket on the ground and sets the basket on it, opening the small flap and reaching in. Harry sits down, immediately removing his shoes and digging his toes into the cool beach. Louis takes out a baguette, two pyrex bowls of strawberries and grapes, a bottle of champagne with plastic flutes, and a small container of Nutella. Harry can feel his heart melt into an actual puddle in his chest as he quietly breathes out,  “Louis…”

“Harry, I’m so sorry,” Louis apologizes. “Please give me another chance?”

“Louis, darling, Louis,” Harry smiles shyly, “It would be impossible not to.”

They eat, throwing grapes at each other and smearing Nutella all over their hands when they try to dip the strawberries in it and eventually just end up using the blanket as a towel, wiping the hazelnut spread all over it. They laugh and joke, and eventually Louis catches Harry’s longing looks towards the water. “Time to go swimming?”

“The sun is setting, though, isn’t that dangerous?” Harry asks.

“Nah, let’s do it!” Louis is already tugging his shirt over his head. Harry does the same, removing his pants and laughing at Louis’s candy-cane boxer shorts. “Shut up, Haz, it’s Christmas in July.”

“You look absolutely ridiculous, Lou,” Harry laughs. Louis is about to comment on Harry’s tie-dyed boxer shorts and their hippy ridiculousness but he can’t get a single word out before Harry is taking off at a sprint down the beach. He’s already up to his knees in the water by the time Louis reaches the edge. Harry is up to his waist when Louis catches sight of him. He laughs, looking up at Harry, suddenly stunned. The taller boy is highlighted by the setting sun, his dark, curly hair has a halo of light behind it. His nose is defined in shadow, and his eyes are green and wide and sparkling...sparkling…

Harry can feel the water at his waist, swirling gently. It’s tugging, but not in the usual direction. Not like it should be. Something has shifted beneath the ocean's surface and it's making Harry anxious. The tide has changed.

Louis and Harry both come to a realization at the same time.

Louis remembers everything about the island; about Harry, about being with him and slowly falling for the childish, sweet merman. The gifts Harry would bring, the sunken ships, the kissing-in-order-to-breathe-underwater. Everything is coming back in a sudden whirlwind of memory that leaves Louis dizzy and a little confused on the shore at the edge of the surf.

Just a short distance away, Harry realizes that the year is changing. The tide has shifted beneath the waves, he can feel it, and Sycorax tricked him. This is his last day. This is the final moment: the year is up beneath the sea. In merpeople time, a year has passed and this moment is the end. The change of the waves, the change in the movement of his natural universe is different. The year is up. He has failed. 

“Harry!” Louis calls from the shore, stumbling forward into the water. He’s reaching his arms out for Harry, and Harry is hurrying back towards Louis, pushing against the water with all his might, his hips swiveling madly against the current. “Harry, I love you!”

“Louis, you remember!” Harry is practically crying with the look of adoring recognition written across Louis’s face. “I love you, too!”

“How did you become human?” Louis wonders, eyes wide with so many questions for his love. His darling Harry, who became a human to find him.

“With a little help from me,” a chilling feminine voice states. Harry is suddenly stopped in his tracks, jerked back forcefully and painfully by something under the water. He feels the seaweed, strong and durable, wrapping around his ankles and wrists, pulling him back out to sea. Louis is so close to touching him and Sycorax is laughing, standing off the to the side as Harry struggles in vain to escape, only to be pulled further away from the shorter, blue-eyed human. “And now, little Harry, you belong to me.”

“Harry!” Louis is barreling into the water after Harry, whose legs are fusing together again, suddenly released by the plants. He’s screaming, tears flowing freely with all the pain he’s experiencing, and he’s muttering Lou’s name over and over. The water is bubbling, full of light. Harry is squirming, held up only by the seaweed holding either of his wrists. Sycorax delights in the look on Louis's face as Harry feels the enormous pain of transforming back into a merman. “Harry, no!”

“Oh, poor darlings,” Sycorax sneers. “Alas, it’s too late.”

“Harry, I love you!” but Harry has fully changed, and just as Louis reaches him, Harry is yanked back underwater by the water ropes, which snaked up around his arms and immobilized him, disappearing into the deep blue of the ocean’s waves. Louis turns to Sycorax, “I’ll do anything.”

“Would you take his place?” Sycorax muses.

“I’m not a merperson…”

“Like a silly thing such as species is a problem,” Sycorax laughs. “Would. You. Take. His. Place?”

“Yes!” Louis blurts before he can stop himself. He has no idea what he’s offering himself into.

“Alas, little human, you are not who I want,” Sycorax scoffs. Louis watches, crestfallen and utterly heartbroken, as she disappears into the waves. Harry, his true love, is gone forever to the one place he can never go and now he has no power to find him again. Louis falls into the shallow waves and cries until the water is freezing and the sun has long since fallen below the horizon.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Almost finished...


	10. Final Chapter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The ending.

Louis is a partially-dry, freezing, emotional, sniffling mess when he arrives back at Niall and Harry’s flat. He opens the front door and Niall instantly reacts to the sound of muffled crying like it’s an instinct, which makes Louis flinch because of Harry...poor Harry. “Haz? Is that you? Is Louis officially a walking target?” but then Niall rounds the corner and finds Louis alone, sobbing his brains out, wearing a cold, damp swimsuit and nothing else, with Harry’s wet t-shirt clasped tightly in his fist. Niall takes a careful step forward, as if he’s approaching an injured lion, “Lou, where is Harry?”

“It’s a r-really long s-s-story,” Louis sobs, holding the t-shirt against his chest like he can feel Harry there instead. His shoulders are heaving with a combination of shivering and crying. Niall knows he must have recently been in the water because his short hair is still stringy with salt water and the damp strands are sticking to his forehead and the back of his neck.

“Where is Harry?” Niall asks.

“Gone. Gone. He’s gone,” Louis’s shoulders are shaking violently in a way Niall is certain cannot be safe or healthy. There’s a dangerous, hysterical edge to his friend’s voice, and Niall knows that he has to calm Louis down before anything can be explained or figured out. Harry is put at the back of his mind for now.

“Let’s get you into the shower. I’ll make us tea and you can explain everything then, alright?” Niall urges, ushering Louis into the bathroom and gently closing the door behind him. Niall rushes to Harry’s room and grabs his smallest pair of sweats he can find and a t-shirt with some hipster band logo on it, spritzing them both with Harry’s cologne in the hopes that it will soothe Louis, who is clearly freaking out. He waits outside the bathroom door until he can hear Louis close the shower curtain behind him. Niall ducks inside and leaves the clothes on the floor.

When Louis arrives back in the kitchen he’s wearing Harry’s clothes, which he’s practically swimming in, and looks like he’s been to Hell and back several times in the past fifteen minutes alone. “What happened?” Niall asks, handing Louis a steaming cup of tea. Louis sets the mug down and perches on one of the counter stools. He glances nervously between Niall and the mug, his hands fiddling with the hem of the t-shirt as he attempts to organize his thoughts.

“If I tell you how I met Harry, I don’t think you’ll believe me,” Louis mutters. “You’ll think I’m a nutter.”

“You met Harry right here in this flat, remember? He’s my roommate and you were dating my friend on the footie team?” Niall is stating things more than questioning Louis, and Louis chuckles humorlessly at his friends attempts to lower the pressure.

“Actually, no,” Louis says, “That’s not when or how I met Harry at all.”

“Explain to me, then, mate. I promise I won’t judge you or interrupt,” Niall crosses his heart. Louis takes a deep breath and begins.

“Remember that cruise I went on over winter break?” he begins. “Well I was completely wasted at some tropical themed party and somehow managed to wander to the back of the boat…”

When Louis finishes explaining everything from meeting Harry and their time on the island through Harry being kidnapped by Sycorax, Niall is wide-eyed and dumbfounded. “You’re not fucking with me right now?”

“Niall, the love of my life is somewhere underwater in the captivity of a crazy sea witch and I’m sobbing at your kitchen counter at two in the morning,” Louis deadpans. “I need to find a way to get him back.”

“Do you know who Harry’s parents are?” Niall asks, shifting his weight awkwardly back and forth like he can’t believe he’s having this conversation right now (which is pretty accurate because maybe Lou is a bit of a nutter).

“His father is some random merman and his mother is a royal nymph,” Louis shrugs. “That’s all he told me. Oh! His grandfather is Poseidon, the god of the sea.”

“We need to Google some serious shit,” Niall declares, marching Louis to his bedroom and retrieving his trusty laptop from next to the bed. They both sit down against the pillows and Niall starts typing, searching for Poseidon’s children/grandchildren. There are several possibilities, according to Google folklore.

“Why don’t we check the images,” Louis suggests. They scroll through three pages of random fanart before Louis sees it: a portrait of Harry in charcoal and watercolor. “There!”

Niall clicks on the picture and brings up the website, an archive for a museum in the United States. Niall reads the placard for the drawing out loud. “The Merman” a rendering from an onboard artist from some college trip to the Virgin Islands. I guess he had a crazy dream and drew this and it got bought by a museum. Weird.”

“How old is this picture?” Louis demands.

“It was bought by the museum in 2006,” Niall reads. Louis smiles. “Wow. He was a cutie when he was slightly younger.”

“He would have probably been seven or eight by merpeople age,” Louis nods. “What an adorable thing.”

“Does this give us any information about his parents, though?” Niall asks. Louis shakes his head and they continue looking. They switch out of looking for  images and Niall finds a list of Poseidon’s children, handily listed with their offspring. “Here, this one has a Haris.”

“What’s the name of the mother?” Louis asks.

“Oh...uhm...Calypso,” Niall shrugs. Then he thinks for a moment and his eyes widen. “Oh shit, Calypso.”

“What does that mean!?” Louis is nearly in tears again.

“I just remember Zayn telling me about this mythology class he took. Calypso is this really just figure. She upholds all her bargains and she keeps promises, so I don’t think you’re going to be able to get any help from her when it comes to breaking whatever spell, curse, or contract the crazy witch has with or over Harry,” Niall explains. Louis has tears in his eyes.

“Okay, so maybe we can get his Mother to help? But for tonight you need to sleep. Alright, Lou?” Niall continues. Louis nods and lets Niall lead him to Harry’s bed. He buries himself in the sheets, surrounds himself with the scent and feeling of Harry, and falls asleep. Niall can’t believe what’s happening and eventually falls asleep out of sheer exhaustion, his brain still running a million miles an hour.

When Louis wakes up the next morning, he can hear Niall’s voice filtering upstairs. The other lads must be here, so he makes himself presentable and wanders downstairs, met by several concerned and slightly disbelieving stares.

“We’re going to rescue him today,” Liam states. “I googled some rituals to summon Calypso so hopefully one of them works and we find your boyfriend’s Mom.”

“Thanks guys,” Louis smiles sadly. “I don’t know how to get Harry out of this one.”

“First, we’re going to need a sacrifice.”

They spend all day figuring out the logistics of their various rituals and gathering a plethora of supplies. When the sun is setting, the park Louis SUV at the beach and pile out onto the sand. Louis draws a large circle in the sand near the water’s edge, pricks his finger and bleeds into the center of the circle before placing their sacrifice of a beach scented candle over the blood droplets. He steps back out of the circle as Liam chants something in Greek. They wait for several minutes with no reactions. “I guess we’ll have to try the next one,” Niall sighs, reaching for their bag.

“Not so fast, little human, I am here to inquire what it is that you seek with your blood and your gift,” a lilting feminine voice inquires. The four boys spin around to face a beautiful brunette woman standing on the sand a short distance down the beach. She is wrapped in a silvery material and she takes a few steps forward. Louis can see the similarities between her and Harry, especially the deep green of her eyes. She gestures at them before crossing her arms. “Who summoned me and for what purpose?” Three groups of eyes slide to Louis, who drops to his knees in instant relief.

“I need to find your son, Harry,” Louis declares.

“What do you, a human, want with my son?” Calypso questions. Then her eyes go wide with understanding, “You must be the boy that he fell in love with. You are Harry’s human mate.”

“Yeah, I guess you could put it that way,” Louis chuckles humorlessly, “He’s the only thing in this world that I want and I have to find him.”

“I cannot end his bondage to my sister,” Calypso sighs. Louis shakes his head, looking up at her with round, pleading eyes.

“Is there  anything I can do to save him?”

“Fight her, make a bet, and win him back,” Calypso explains. “You must find a way summon her instead. Do you understand that the risk of you losing and being in a similar position to Harry is very high, little human?”

“Yes, but Harry is worth every risk,” Louis states forcefully. Calypso smiles fondly at the little human with the large blue eyes. He’s so determined and strong, his heart pounding hard and fast in his desperation to find his love. He is a good match for her son and she quickly blesses their potential union.

“If you win Harry back, little human, you two may make a decision. I can either turn Harry permanently human or you can become a merperson and live underwater,” Calypso indulges.

“Thank you so much,” Louis beams.

“Good luck with my sister, Louis.”

And in a swirl of mist, the nymph disappears back to the sea and the candle is missing from the center of the circle.

“You know, on second thought, maybe giving someone who lives underwater a candle that smells like sea breeze wasn’t the most intelligent decision,” Liam jokes, successfully lightening the mood. All four boys laugh as they pile tiredly back into Louis’s car and drive home.

“Tomorrow I rescue Harry.”

* * *

The next night the group finds themselves in the same place on the beach with their new ritual halfway finished. Louis is chanting this time while Niall draws four stars in the sand with a decorative knife shaped like a fish that they found at a secondhand store. When Niall finishes, Louis ends the chant and they wait.

Once again, it doesn’t take long before the sorceress makes her appearance. “Oh, you again,” she smirks. “Come to challenge me and win back your lover?”

“That’s actually exactly my plan,” Louis plays it cool. He’s trying to be brave in front of the most terrifying thing he’s ever had to face: losing Harry forever.

“Alright, mortal, name your challenge,” Sycorax practically yawns. “Or should I first fetch your lover to witness your loss?”

Before Louis can answer, Sycorax has whispered something into the waves. Moments later, Harry is dragged up by more infernal seaweed and placed on a rock outcropping nearby, close enough to see clearly but too far away to run to without Sycorax killing Louis first. The two boys make eye contact and Louis smiles reassuringly. Harry tugs at the ropes binding his wrists together, trying to scoot closer to the edge of the rock and closer to Louis.

“No, no,” the sea witch smiles sweetly, and Harry arches his back suddenly in a silent scream. “No cheating.”

“Stop!” Louis screams, which startles Sycorax and Harry relaxes back, panting. “I am here to challenge you to a battle of the wits.”

“I’ve been around for so much longer than you, human,” the witch beams, “This will be so simple.”

“We each give the other a riddle until one of us cannot solve it,” Louis offers, “If I win, I get Harry back. If you win, I have to work for you, too! We each have a minute to answer each riddle, if we exceed the minute then we forfeit and lose.”

“No! Louis! Don’t do it!” I-” Harry’s almost-hysterical screaming is cut off suddenly. Louis glances over to see that his mouth has been covered by the seaweed as well and his gorgeous green eyes are rolling around his head frantically.

“I accept your terms, let us begin. I will go first,” Sycorax says. “What comes down but never goes up?”

“Rain, simple,” Louis practically snorts.

“Correct,” Sycorax huffs. “Your turn, mortal.”

“Alright, in a one story house there lived a pink cat, there were pink chairs, a pink couch, everything was pink. What color were the stairs?” Louis asks.

“There weren’t any, it’s a one story house,” Sycorax beams. She loves these games and it’s been so long since something interesting has come about. “If I drink, I die. If I eat, I’m fine, what am I?”

“Easy, fire,” Louis is laughing again. She’s a witch? She successfully stole Harry away from him? This was too simple. Louis loved riddles.

“Poor people have it, the rich people need it, if you eat it you die. What is it?” Louis asks, crossing his arms. This is one of the tougher riddles he’s come across in his many years of reading and figuring them out for fun. He counts down the seconds as Sycorax struggles to answer. “The minute is up, Harry is mine!”

“I admit that you have bested me, human, and for that I will return your lover,” Sycorax smiles, enchanting a bit of seaweed to push Harry from the rocks. He falls into the water and thrashes around, trying to get the seaweed off his wrists so he can swim or the gag out of his mouth so he can breathe. Louis sprints down the beach and dives fully clothed into the chilly water. He swims up beside Harry, who is still twisting and turning, his eyes wide and panicked. Louis tugs at the seaweed but it isn’t giving way. Harry’s eyes start to flutter closed and his tail slows its movements before stopping completely. Harry begins to sink.

Louis wraps his arms around Harry’s slim, scaled waist and heaves him up to the surface. He pulls his boyfriend’s limp body to the beach and carries him out of the water. The other three boys are instantly there, Zayn’s pocket knife cutting away at the seaweed and restoring air to Harry’s lungs. When at last his eyes open, everyone breathes a sigh of relief.

“I didn’t think I could drown,” Harry smiles. “That’s a major flaw in the system.”

And Louis is kissing him and holding him close and then they’re both crying and kissing and professing their undying love to one another. “Your mother said you had the choice to stay a merperson and I could join you, or you could turn human forever and live with me,” Louis says when at last they’re done kissing.

“I know what I want,” Harry beams up at him, flicking his tail in the sand excitedly.

“What’s that, love?

“You.”

* * *

ONE YEAR LATER

“Harry, jeez, can your jeans get any tighter?” Louis laughs.

“It reminds me of having a tail, it’s comforting,” Harry pouts. Louis leans up to give his boyfriend a kiss and Harry instantly smiles again. “Love you, Lou.”

“Love you most, Hazza!” Louis retorts. “Now get your ass in the car, we’re going to uni!”

“Ugh,” Harry fake groans. He’s spent the whole summer in a complete tizzy about how excited he is to finally get a good education in the human world. Louis couldn’t deny him anything.

Louis smiles and kisses Harry one last time before they part ways for the day, knowing that he’ll never have to lose Harry again.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Thank you so much for all of your support! Due to my busy summer schedule for the next week or so, my newest story won't be published quite yet. I do have another one shot coming out soon, though. It's a AU University story with Nerd!Louis and Rockstar!Harry so keep your eyes peeled if you like that kind of stuff.  
> Thank you so much! I'll miss this story.


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